Taking up space at work isn't easy. Here's how employees can speak up for each other.
Getting interrupted. Getting ideas stolen. Being talked over and ignored in meetings. This happens to women, people of color and marginalized workers a LOT.
As I (Stacey) was researching and writing my book, Machiavelli For Women, and exploring issues like the gender pay gap, the gender promotion gap and harassment, I would often talk these topics over with friends and colleagues. And the topic people always got the most excited and worked up about? Interruptions and idea-stealing.
This really surprised me. Getting interrupted or having ideas stolen is certainly no fun, but it seemed like such small potatoes to me. After a while, though, I began to understand. Getting interrupted is a small thing, but it's also a powerful symbol of status in a workplace.
On a more practical note, being heard is key to everything. If nobody hears your ideas, how are you going to get those ideas off the ground? How that Black women's statements are forgotten or misremembered significantly more often than those of white women.
